"Covert Affairs": Pictured, from left, are Piper Perabo as Annie Walker and Nic Bishop as Ryan McQuaid. The season five summer finale airs Tuesday, Aug. 26, at 10 p.m. on the USA Network. (photo by Christos Kalohoridis/USA Network)

Behind the Screens with Joshua Maloni

Nic Bishop has done a wonderful
job of bringing his "Covert Affairs" character, Ryan McQuaid, to life this
season. It was only fitting, then, when the actor emulated McQuaid and snuck
onto a conference call series star Piper Perabo was having with television
reporters Thursday.

"I didn't know you were going to
get on the phone, Nic. I knew you were still filming," Perabo said to her
costar.

"I apologize that I'm late," Bishop
said with a charming tone.

The two conversed more throughout
the call, talking about the weather and running lines together.

McQuaid, an ex-CIA operative
turned military contractor, has charmed Perabo's CIA agent Annie Walker all
season, so it truly was life imitating art listening to their banter.

"I think ... the style of McQuaid
has evolved because of how Nic and I do the scenes," Perabo said. "Nic has this
real kind of, like, bravado, or something about the way he plays McQuaid. And
the writers, Matt (Corman) and Chris (Ord) especially, they love that kind of man - that
kind of quick-witted, throw-caution-to-the-wind kind of guy.

"So once they saw how Nic embraced
it in those opening Columbia episodes, they got really excited. So like things
like, you know, how he talks to her when he picks her up in a helicopter and
this kind of, like, devil-may-care attitude has really begun to define McQuaid
because of the way Nic plays it."

Throwing caution to the wind is
nothing new on "Covert Affairs." At the end of last season, Annie took down series
villain Henry Wilcox (Gregory Itzin), who had plagued her and the agency for
years. It was a plot move many shows would've saved until the final episode, as
storytelling tends to falter when the foil is, well, foiled.

But season five has been nothing
short of a masterpiece for "Covert Affairs." Annie returned from dealing with
Henry's demise (and a subsequent heart ailment) only to land in the middle of a
terrorist bombing on a Chicago CIA site. She's struggled to keep her health
scare a secret, let her friends and co-workers back into her life, and find the
person or persons behind the attack.

As Annie has labored, "Covert
Affairs" has effortlessly moved from episode to episode with interesting
stories, plenty of twists and turns, and the show's unique blend of
action/adventure.

"Initially, you know, in the
beginning, in seasons (one) and even in two, we were doing sort of more
serialized storytelling - kind of mission-of-the-week stuff - and we've evolved
- you can see, especially in season five - into longer arcs," Perabo said. "And
I think Henry Wilcox is this kind of ubervillain. Especially throughout season
four, (it) was a real attempt to try and do a really long arc.

"And when we finished season four
and Annie was on a boat, you know, at sunset riding out in the South China Sea,
when we finished it, I had no idea: She could have gone anywhere. You know,
they leave it on there on this gunmetal gray boat going out to sea. She could
never return to the spy life. She could go live with (her sister) Danielle in
California. Like, it could have gone anywhere.

"And the fact that she decides
that she needs this work, and this work is part of who she is, I think really
honors the fans who've watched the show from the beginning. Instead of going
off on some, you know, crazy new idea, we stayed with the world that the, you
know, the viewers had initially let us pursue. So I don't know. I'm glad that
we've evolved, but that we've also stayed in a world that was working from the
beginning."

In season four, Annie finally got
together with her handler and friend, Auggie (Christopher Gorham). Alas, their
romance was short-lived, as she opted to fake her own death to take Henry off
her trail.

Fans were disappointed, but
quickly recovered thanks to the Annie-McQuaid storyline. As Annie tried to
return to some sort of normal life, McQuaid was there to serve as a sounding
board, a resource, a partner and, maybe, a love interest.

But just as fans were starting to write
"McWalker" with a heart around it, McQuaid was spotted with a bad guy. Annie
was shocked - disappointed, even - but quickly and quietly looked into McQuaid.
In last week's episode, it appeared he was behind the Chicago attack. However,
in one of the final scenes, he came to Annie and told her he was being framed.

Bishop said McQuaid's introduction
to Annie "was kind of dubious, and she was very apprehensive about him - and
still kind of is. ... If a guy is sort of overtly charming or seems like he's
always got everything together, then that also lends itself to a character that
could be suspicious or dodgy, you know? So it's got that kind of fine line."

In Tuesday's summer finale, Annie
will look to solve the mystery - at any cost.

"I think when Annie went dark and
she cut ties with her whole family, you know, they thought she died, we've
never gone back to that, and Annie has never told her family that she's even
alive," Perabo said. "So all she really has in her life is the people that she
knows at work, so that makes the mission everything, because if they take your
work away, where are you, you know, when you've alienated yourself from your
family and you've just made this mission such a high priority? She's at a
tricky place.

"And I think that's why ... having a
relationship with somebody like McQuaid or Auggie, people really root for that,
because I think, in some ways, Annie needs that kind of grounding and real life
moments, because she's just working all the time."